The Saptha Sindu (now known as India) since ages has been the epicentre of Science and Technology. The attitude of Innovating in every aspect of life to nurture a bright future made India a hub for novelty. Right from the numeric system to Astronomy, Ayurvedic Medicine to Spectroscopy eminent Indian scholars and scientists such as Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Sushrutha, Bhaskaracharya, Dr. C V Raman to name a few made India proud of its scientific prowess since ages. Over time, this innate ability of Indian Innovation was forgotten until recently. The modern world is once again beginning to accept and establish faith in Indians for innovation.

But, Innovation in India?

By “Innovation in India”, we refer to a thought, an idea or a vision which is incubated and executed in India: A product or a platform invented right here in the world’s interest.

For decades now, startups have been the figure heads of disruptive technologies. As a ripple effect, startups have radically influenced changes in the entire tech ecosystem starting from education to accepted Industrial Practices. In this regard, India has been instrumental in producing a variety of vivid software startups which have attracted intellect and capital from all parts of the world. Software services based startups have also seen innovative minds coming together and solving big problems that have haunted the world for ages. Not to mention, the apps based services have taken even rural India by storm.

The next giant leap in the technological landscape is the Internet-of-Things (IoTs). Forbes forecasts the opportunity of IoTs to reach US $7.1 trillion by 2020. Pursuing IoTs has become a matter of national interest as economists foresee a boost in the GDP by doing so.

Then again, unlike Software startups which are well supported and understood due to their inherent nature of being light in the inception phase and a flourishing eco-system (capital requirement, supporting infrastructure), IoT startups are quite tricky since it involves a hardware element. Propelling a hardware startup to a good revenue cycle is quite arduous, especially an IoT startup. The knowhow, fabs, Electronic Manufacturing and Assembly Units, Tooling, Supply Chain and other resources in addition to software development makes it all the more cumbersome to think of an electronics startup in India, since the capital requirement and effort to kickstart is northwards.

Designed and Made in India IoTs for the World?

As mentioned earlier, Manufacturing IoTs gets cumbersome since multiple manufacturing plays kick in before piecing them together. Most manufacturers of the past spend years on designing and developing their products before hitting the production floors. Though the manufacturing potential in India is promising, the IoT (internet of Things) space has mostly seen integrators – Integrators who attempted to solve problems with IoTs by putting together or modifying designs and modules available across the ocean.

With Innovation marking our legacy, and a history of bravery and entrepreneurship, should we continue to work in this fashion? Should we let go of a market whose potential can drastically improve our outlook and economy? Is India ready to embrace IoTs as an opportunity?